An Odyssey Conspiracy Theory
by FreeFall18
Summary: The truth revealed from one of Odysseus's doomed crewmates. Written as a college assignment.


_Late in the summer of 2021, an archaeologist found a primitive journal off the coast of Sicily. The following translation consists of what was still legible of the amazingly preserved text written by an ancient mariner millennia ago._

. . . .Beat the Trojans after so many years. Headed for Ismarus. Something is wrong with the king. He won't stop crying. Whatever happens though, he's still our king, and we are honor bound to follow him . . . .

. . . . O—seus wouldn't let us board our ships. He wanted to feast on the shores despite being advised otherwise . . . . Men lost. We had no chance. The others are starting to question the king's sanity . . . .

. . . . Days later, we made landfall on land full of lotuses. –dyss-us jumped from the ship and began to eat the fruit . . . . Ate our fill, and we tried to board the ships again. The king refused, wanting to never leave the shores. Thank Zeus we were able to coax him back onto the ship . . . .

. . . . ----sseus was crying again last night . . . .

. . . . Goats all over the shore. I was part of the shore party along with Polyphemus, the poor soul who lost an eye to a Trojan arrow . . . . trapped in the cave by the king "on accident" by giant stone . . . . Fight broke out. Polyphemus screamed, and then light spilled into the cave when Odys— moved the stone once more. The king ordered us back to the ship. He gave the order to set sail, and Polyphemus stumbled onto shore, blood running through his fingers when he held the hole that had been his good eye. O-yss–us wouldn't let us return for him and continued to shout insults, calling himself "Nobody." The crew . . . uneasy now. Mutiny . . . .

. . . . Managed to calm crew, for now . . . . Not sure how much longer . . . .

. . . . Aeolus. The king left the ship alone . . . . Returned with an empty bag an hour later, but he refused to let any of us hold it. We set sail, and Od—sseus sat behind the sails blowing into them with his mouth. A few hours later, he passed out and began to cry in his sleep . . . .

. . . . Lost in a storm and forced to land on empty shore. No other ships in sight, and they are feared to be lost. The king awoke screaming about giant cannibals, but he soon started to scream at the fish beneath the hull . . . .

. . . . I have taken control . . . . Crew ignores king now . . . .

. . . . Charts say the island is named Aeaea. O–d—s began ranting about an herb called "moly" and something about pigs. We came to an abandoned ruin in the middle of the forest. The king explored alone, and when we saw him next he was wearing a woman's robe . . . . Call him Circe. We fear for him, but he is still our king . . . . Forced to stay on the island . . . .

. . . . Months later now, still on the island. Sometimes he is –dy—eus, sometimes he is Circe. El–nor has been chosen to confront the king . . . .

. . . . Elp–or is dead. The king says he fell from the roof drunk, but he must have fallen on the king's sword in the process . . . . Have our doubts . . . . Won't let us bury him . . . . Says we head for Hades to speak with Tiresias . . . .

. . . . Odys— has been crying for the past few days . . . .

. . . . Empty shore . . . . The king offered sacrifices, and then began talking to himself swinging his sword like the madman we fear he has become . . . .

. . . . Returned to Aeaea to bury Elpenor . . . . Circe came out again . . . .

. . . . Set sail. —seus asked us to tie him to the mast. We were happy to oblige, but then he screamed to be let loose, wanting to see the lovely women he heard singing. . . . No land in sight . . . .

. . . . Whirlpool. We easily skirt around it. When he saw it, the king pushed a half dozen men into the water while he screamed something about a six-headed monster. He laughed when they were sucked under . . . .

. . . . plan to take him down . . . . All in danger . . . . Found land with plenty of cattle. After dinner, it will be done . . . .

. . . . Ship sank. The king betrayed us. He jumped on the wreckage and floated out of sight while he laughed and screamed for a Caly–so . . . . Last we heard was the word "mandrake." Then he burst into tears . . . .

. . . . Poisoned . . . . -dys— has killed us all . . . Everyone else . . . . unconscious. I will seal this journal in oilskin to protect it as a testament as to what has happened . . . . Hades have mercy on our souls . . . . Fools to stay loyal . . . .


End file.
